You Promised
by inkwheels
Summary: Jane promises Maura she'll be careful out in the field. Poor Jane. She tries.


_I promised her I'd be careful_, I thought as I stood outside the door to her office; trying to gather the courage to knock.

I paced a bit, chewing on my thumbnail before I took a deep breath and rapped my sore knuckles on the wood door.

"Come in," I heard her soft voice say on the other side.

My stomach flip flopped as I turned the knob and walked inside. Her eyes went wide and her jaw fell. I put up my hand, "Before you say anything, I'm fine. I swear."

She stood up from behind her desk, her hand going to her mouth to cover it just as the tears began to well up in her eyes, quickly sending the overflow rolling down her cheeks. "You promised me."

_Shit._

"I know. I know," I said as I approached her and put my hands on her wrists. "I _was _careful. I'm fine." I couldn't help it. A single tear rolled down my bruised cheek.

She cupped my face, crying harder as she took in the bruises, cuts and blood. "Let me check and make sure you're okay." Taking my hands, she led me over to the couch.

"Maura. I'm fine. Really."

"Did you go to the hospital and have a doctor examine you?" she asked as she shut the blinds.

Sighing, I eased myself down onto the soft cushion. "No," I said softly, hoping she wouldn't hear it and question me again.

No such luck.

She returned to my side, helping me ease my jacket off. "Let me guess, you refused to be transported and just had the EMT's check you."

I shrugged slightly, it hurt to do more than that, and looked away.

"What happened?" she asked me as she examined my face, immediately poking the cut above my eye.

How could I explain this in a way that wasn't the truth because it was a bloodbath. "We got to the location and they opened fire on us. I had my vest on," I said in my own defense.

Frowning, she was still looking at the cut. "This needs stitching."

"Maura. It's fine."

The next thing I knew, her hands were unbuttoning my shirt. I put my hands over hers. "Hey!"

"What? The blinds are closed. You have a tank top on underneath." I could see her eyes focusing on the under garment that was stained with my blood.

There was really no point in fighting her; probably better off to get it over with now anyway. "Whatever," I said as I let her continue and shrugged out of the shirt, wincing and biting my bottom lip.

She gasped and I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the tongue lashing that was about to occur.

"Jane!"

"It's nothing."

"Nothing? This isn't nothing you were shot!"

"Technically yes, but I had my vest on and…"

She was shaking her head as she got to her feet to get a better look at the nasty bruise that marred my skin on my left side near my collarbone. I'm almost positive I heard her growl at me which I've never heard her do before.

"Lift up your left arm."

"Huh?"

"You heard me." Her tears had dried and now she was just pissed off.

I sighed heavily as I rolled my eyes. Biting my bottom lip, I slowly lifted my arm up. It hurt like hell but I made it half way and put it down. "Happy."

She put her hand up above the point where my hand had been. "Touch my hand."

Like a wise ass, I poked her hand with my right and smiled.

Stupid move.

She grabbed my left wrist and raised my arm on her own, past where I was able to.

"Ow! Maura! Stop!" I cried out. "Okay. Okay. Put it down."

She eased it down and put her hands on her hips. "You need an x-ray. Your collarbone is either broken or badly bruised." Without saying another word, she stormed off across the room and sat down behind her desk with her head in her hands.

"Maura?" I asked sheepishly as I got up and slowly walked over to her.

She was crying again.

I put my right hand on her back and rubbed gently. "I'm sorry."

"Are you?" she snapped at me. "Every time this happens you pretend you're fine. What is your problem Jane?"

I didn't know what to say.

She stood up and got in my face. "Why do you do this!"

"Whoa, hey! That's not fair, Maura." Now I felt like I was ready for a fight. "I had my vest on, it's not like I went in there all guns blazin' alone, thinking I could take them all out myself." I ran my hand through my hair. "I was careful. As careful as I could be given the fact that I'm a cop, Maura and being on the other end of a gun, knife or fist is part of the job. You're acting like I ask for it or purposely go against your wishes." Grimacing from the pain that was now radiating from my shoulder, I sat down on her ugly plastic chair.

"Don't say that, Jane. I'm not saying that you're asking for it. I'm saying that why can't you just accept help? Why do you have to act like this is nothing? You're standing here covered in blood, _your_ blood, and pretending you're fine. Why? Why would…"

"Because I need to be strong. Because I'm the only woman here, Maura. Because if I'm lying on the ground crying because I got shot or punched in the face by some three hundred pound asshole, the guys don't want a crybaby backing them up in a gun fight."

"A crybaby? Are you even listening to yourself?"

"Do you think Crowe would let me live it down if I…"

"It's a bullet, Jane," she spat at me, shoving a finger in my direction. "A bullet that can end your life in a split second. Do you not remember what happened out in front of this building not too long ago!"

"Let's not go there."

"No! Let's go there! Do you remember what you said to me when I got to you?"

"No," I said quietly.

"You said you were fine." She chuckled sarcastically. "If bleeding out all over the sidewalk is fine, then you have a seriously distorted view of what _fine_ really means."

I hung my head in defeat. "I hate this," I mumbled.

I could hear her crying and it was killing me.

She was right.

Standing up, I walked over to her and put my right arm around her. "I'm sorry. Again. I think the majority of my problem is that I feel like I need to be strong…for you."

I must have hit all the right notes because she turned to look at me; I had her full attention.

I took her hands into mine. "I would do _anything_ to protect you. I want you to see me as strong and…invincible in some way." I held up a hand to interrupt her protest. "I love you. It hurts me inside when I get hurt because I feel like you're going to feel like I'm not strong. By saying I'm fine I feel like that makes up for the hurt you see on the outside."

"Oh, Jane." Her hand touched my cheek and she moved my head towards her to kiss me. "You don't have to act _fine_ around me or anyone else. I _know_ you're strong but I also know that a bullet or a stab wound isn't fine and has nothing to do with your inner strength."

I started to crumble and cry, my knees giving way as I let go. She caught me and brought me over to the chair, kissing my forehead before kneeling before me.

"Sorry, this is something else I hate doing," I blubbered.

"I love you so much, Jane." She kissed my hands, being careful not to move my left arm too much. "You know I hate seeing you hurt and I understand that this is your job and it will happen, it just doesn't make it any easier for me."

"I think I try to tell you I'm fine so you won't worry so much about me."

"I'm going to worry more if you lie to me. I don't want you to lie to me."

"I want to protect you."

"I know. I know you do. You can't protect me from everything and I certainly don't expect you to."

"But I want to because I love you."

"And I appreciate that more than you'll ever know because it says a lot about you, _but_ you just can't burden yourself with that."

I winced and didn't hide it. "I feel like shit and this _really_ hurts." I smiled at her motioning to my shoulder. "I'm being honest with you."

She frowned and rubbed my thigh. "Come on. Let's go get you checked out."

Helping me stand, she wound her arm around mine and led the way to her car.

* * *

When Maura was satisfied with the check up I'd received at the hospital, she took me home.

They'd given me some decent painkillers. Normally I wasn't one to take them and would suffer through…I mean, tough it out, but it was something else that annoyed Maura and bought me another lecture in the exam room.

The drugs took the edge off the nagging pain but left me foggy. A broken collarbone and a slight concussion was the total damage for the day.

After helping me get dressed for bed, she soon climbed into bed with me; dressed in her silky pajamas I loved so much. If I wasn't so high I totally would have made some moves on her.

This was going to take some getting used to but I had to try and change for her sake. She knows I love her, Lord knows I've said it countless times. But this is a good way to actually show her.

* * *

**Author's note: I wrote this based off of a photo I came across on Tumblr. If you want to see the photo, go to Skullflame's page: skullflame dot tumblr dot com**

**END _(complete)_  
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